Toyota expected to pay £11m fine

Toyota is expected to pay a fine of nearly £11 million for waiting four months before reporting a problem with sticky accelerator pedals on its vehicles.

A source in the US Transportation Department said the carmaker was unlikely to contest the $16.4 million (£10.7m) fine, which was imposed after it became clear the firm knew about the defects in September, but did not recall affected vehicles until January.

A timeline furnished by Toyota showed that on September 29 last year the firm provided distributors in 31 European nations guidelines to fix complaints regarding sticky pedals and sudden increases in vehicle acceleration.

Toyota could agree to pay the full amount of the fine in order to avoid taking the matter to court, the source said, adding that the government would see it as an acceptance of responsibility for breach of regulations by concealing a safety problem.

Toyota announced it would recall 2.3 million vehicles in January to address sticking pedals on popular vehicles such as the Camry and Corolla.

The Japanese carmaker has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.